#52FilmsByWomen: HOTEL 22

21/52 HOTEL 22.

This week’s film is a very short and very poignant documentary from director Elizabeth Lo, who made this film while she was a graduate student at Stanford University. The film premiered at Sundance last year and Lo was named one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine in 2015.

Lo rode a 24-hour bus line in the Bay area to capture the homeless population who use the bus as a makeshift homeless shelter at night–a stark contrast and rebuke to the wealth and innovation of Silicon Valley. Without any interviews or narration, this slice-of-life is deeply moving and unsettling.

Short of the Week has a great essay accompanying Lo’s film where they go in-depth on her process so I highly recommend you watch the film there: HOTEL 22